World Health Insurance: Worldwide Health Insurance

By: EconomyWatch Content   Date: 17 February 2010

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The health insurance system differs for different countries. However, whatever the system a country adopts, the aim remains the same and that is to enable citizens to spread the financial risk caused by ill-health. The health care costs are the highest in the US. A major part of the national income goes into health care in the US, whereas many industrialized countries are still catching up with the concept of health insurance.

 

World Health Insurance: Worldwide Health Insurance System

The health insurance system in some major countries in the world is as follows:

 

United States: The American health care system is primarily handled by private and not-for-profit insurance companies. About 85% Americans have insurance coverage, while the rest are uninsured or underinsured. About 58% of the US population has some form of private health insurance coverage, as estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Two other major sources of obtaining health insurance are government organizations and employers.

 

Canada: Health insurance in Canada is governed by the Canada Health Act, under which every citizen has free access to health care. Canadians can also have private coverage for services that are not covered under the public health plans. These services could be prescription drug plans and semi-private or private rooms in hospitals. Around 65% of the Canadian population is covered by some plan under supplementary private health insurance that can also be taken through one’s employer.

 

United Kingdom: Healthcare in the UK is largely taken care of by National Health System (NHS), which is a publicly funded healthcare system. It is somewhat different from the insurance system, since it does not involve the collection of premiums. Costs are neither borne by patients nor are pre-paid from a pool. NHS provides services such as primary care, in-patient care, dentistry, ophthalmology and long-term health care. Some major players in the private health care are AXA, Pru Health, Aviva and Groupama Healthcare.

 

India: In India, the health insurance sector is dominated by public sector companies, with 76% share by 2006. Due to the high cost of quality healthcare in the country, a considerable portion of the population is considering insurance to finance their health care cost. As of September 2009, although only 10% of the Indian population is covered by some type of health insurance policy, there are high expectations of tremendous growth of insurance companies in the coming years. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is the body that governs insurance regulations and promotes insurance business in the country.

 


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